Philippa Roe bridles at any comparison between herself and the last woman to lead Westminster city council, the infamous Dame Shirley Porter. "I think that's irrelevant," she complains, with some justification. "It was a quarter of a century ago. The fact that I happen to be a female leader is simply by the bye really. We've had several leaders since. I'm completely different from her. The era is completely different."

Porter's reign in the 1980s was dominated by the "homes for votes" scandal – illegally selling off council homes in marginal wards in the hope of bolstering Conservative support.

Roe, 49, joined the London council well after the scandal, following a City career, which she gave up when she became a mum six years ago. She gets rattled by questions surrounding the Porter affair. "It's not something that gets mentioned now, not even by our [Labour] opposition," Roe insists. "I really hope it's something we can put behind us."

Her predecessor, Colin Barrow, said as much three years ago after apologising unreservedly for Porter's actions and acknowledging they had significantly damaged the authority.

Ironic, then, that Barrow stood down last week after probably the biggest controversy since the Porter scandal. The council's proposed night-time parking charges in central London, dubbed a "tax on nightlife", were called "completely mad" by London's mayor Boris Johnson.

Roe, the new leader, says the contentious scheme has now been dropped. "What I'd like to do is put parking completely behind us ... I look forward to working very constructively with the residents in the West End."

Roe maintains that her housing renewal strategy, launched three years ago when she was cabinet member responsible for housing, was aimed at tackling inequalities. That means, she says, also addressing the local economy by encouraging small and medium-size businesses to flourish and employ local people. This year, she says, the council is on course to find more than 2,000 jobs for locals. It is preparing to launch a drive to get 100 jobless young people into work over two years. "It's all about helping people get on that ladder of personal responsibility and reach their full potential," says Roe.

For all that ambition, however, Westminster's record of social care is hardly exemplary. A recent adult care survey, for instance, found the council's services the joint-worst in London. And for all its ultra-rich terraces and multimillion-pound properties, the borough embraces some of the country's poorest wards with, Roe accepts, some of the capital's highest levels of child poverty.

On adult care, she says: "It was very, very unfortunate timing when that survey went out, because we were bang in the middle of consultation about changing services totally to look at re-enabling people. In a year's time, I think you'll see a massive difference."

Addressing child poverty is also a priority, she insists. "I'm absolutely committed to improving our most deprived areas. There's a big difference in life expectancy between our wealthier and poorer wards. We need to tackle that and are dedicated to doing so."

Westminster is building houses again through an arms-length management organisation that runs its 25,000 council properties. But Paul Dimoldenberg, the opposition Labour leader, cautions that the programme will lead to no net increase in council housing stock because the new homes will only replace older properties that are being demolished.

Important weapon

For Roe, however, these council homes are an important weapon in her political armoury to challenge critics who accuse the Tories of "social cleansing" – the borough will be the most affected by the government's £26,000 benefit cap which came into effect in January. "They don't want poorer people in areas inhabited by the super rich, and being a call on council resources," says Dimoldenberg. "Simple as that."

According to the council's research, up to 43% of pupils in Westminster schools are in families directly affected by the cap in privately rented properties – and 17% of primary school pupils could be forced to move schools altogether.

But Roe accepts none of the criticism. "This lie people keep peddling about social cleansing is completely wrong," she says. "We have 25,000 social housing tenants completely unaffected [by the benefit cap]. We are in a programme of building more affordable housing across Westminster and supporting people on low incomes to live in Westminster, regenerating swaths of some of the poorest wards in the country."

And addressing the consequences from the cap in the private rented sector, she retorts: "Even in that sector we have a 45% 'churn', so even if the worst predictions are realised and every single person living in a property with rents above the cap had to move – it's less than 10% additional 'churn' in one year. Furthermore, one-bedroom flats are readily available beneath the cap in Westminster," she says. "Two-bed flats you can get in some of the less expensive areas. It's only the larger properties [three and four bed homes] where people are going to have to move, and 50% of the people affected by the cap are in one-bed properties. We are seeing rents coming down. We've been negotiating with landlords, sometimes reducing rents from £800 to £400 a week."

And she insists other nearby London boroughs can take up the slack. "Even if people do have to move, they don't have to move very far – Camden, Brent, Southwark, Lambeth are on our doorstep and there are properties in those areas beneath the cap."

Critics, she cautions, should take note: the majority of Westminster residents are right behind the council.